New Rule

In my last blog entry, I said, "At some point, I decided not to keep paddling back to where we started. It's taken years for me to finally figure out that doing so in a strong current is a waste of time and energy." Well, there's a new commandment in my surfing life now. It goes as follows: Thou shalt not drift so far down the coast as to necessitate a more than 10 minute walk back to your original entry point. Yeah, paddling back toward where you started does waste energy. However, I'm not doing that Longboard Death March ever again. So when I hit that break today, I would only allow myself to drift two towers away from where I started. Then I'd start paddling south again. I expended more energy than I would have liked doing that. My shoulders were sore from this week's swim and surf sessions. This constant paddling didn't help that. I couldn't take as many waves as I would have liked since I was pretty much spent after trying to paddle back where I started.

Much to my surprise, there was some swell in the water today. This was unanticipated to say the least. How I managed a dry hair paddle out I'll never know. The set waves, in particular, packed a hell of a punch. Once again, my first wave was my best. It was a left that I thought would produce a mushy, laid back ride. I was mistaken in that assumption. I popped up, weighted my front foot and hung on for dear life. I was flying. If it weren't for me not wanting to be too conspicuous in the water (which is just stupid since I'm a black woman with what is now a full head of locks—it's not like I simply blend in with everyone else), I probably would have screamed like a little girly girl. I managed to keep my cool, all the while thinking about how the waves were bigger than I'd anticipated and wondering if I should be at least a little nervous. After awhile, I was more concerned about the drift than the size and power of the waves. In fact, I even tried to make a perfectly decent left into a right. I figured if I couldn't paddle my way back south, I'd ride there. Of course, the one time I want to go right, I was faced with lefts that were much better.

As I type this, I'm still sore. Monday is my rest day. I'm certainly looking forward to that. All I want right now is to surf tomorrow without too much fatigue. C'mon, body, hang tough! One more day and I'll leave you be!

Anybody see The 808 on Fuel TV last night? I didn't even know such a show existed. And Lord knows I love me some Kala Alexander. Unfortunately, the show was kind of boring. Did I miss something?